KU extends deal with adidas through 2019

Kansas players come to a huddle while trailing Temple during the second half on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 at Allen Fieldhouse.

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So much for the message board chatter about moving back to Nike.

Thursday afternoon, Kansas University officials announced via press release that Kansas Athletics and adidas have agreed to renew their footwear and apparel partnership — one of the largest such partnerships in college athletics — through 2019. The commitment extends by six years the original eight-year agreement between adidas and KU, which was signed in 2005.

According to the release, the six-year extension is a sponsorship and product-allowance agreement worth in excess of $26 million.

“We have been extremely pleased with our partnership with adidas,” KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger said in the release. “Adidas promised quality and dedication to service to all our teams and they have delivered what they promised. The fact that adidas eagerly sought to extend our partnership clearly demonstrates to us their continued understanding of the tremendous value of the entire Kansas Athletics program.”

Since the fall of 2005, adidas has provided footwear, uniforms, apparel and accessories to each of the Jayhawks’ 18 intercollegiate athletics teams, and KU has achieved great success during that stretch.

• The men’s basketball team won the 2008 NCAA Championship and reached the championship game in 2012

• The women’s basketball team reached the Sweet 16 two consecutive years, making Kansas the only university in the country whose men’s and women’s teams reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in both 2012 and 2013

• The football team won a BCS Bowl — the 2008 Orange Bowl

• The women’s track and field team has won two Big 12 Conference Championships, several NCAA individual championships and an Olympic Gold medal in 2012

• The volleyball, soccer and softball teams also have reached the NCAA Tournament.

Adidas holds strong partnerships across collegiate athletics, developing high-performance footwear, apparel and accessories for more than 70 collegiate programs including Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, Tennessee, Indiana, Nebraska, Texas A&M; and Louisville. In addition, adidas is the official uniform and apparel provider for the National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer and equips some of the best athletes in the world including Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Damian Lillard, Lionel Messi, Robert Griffin III, Von Miller, Candace Parker and Heather O’Reilly.

The company appears thrilled to keep its tie to KU for another six years.

“We are proud of our relationship with KU’s outstanding athletics program,” said adidas Vice President of Sport Performance David Baxter. “We are excited to have KU athletes, coaches and fans wear adidas and look forward to continuing our successful partnership.”

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Comments

Adidas is good for the university. It provides to all, not just the revenue sports. The haters should be out in full force, but it doesn't take long to find someone who has a child or relative that benefits from adidas being the brand at KU. Being on an athletic scholarship should mean you don't have to worry about buying your gear, and this is mainly what adidas brings to the table.

Actually, I do too, particularly their clothing line but for kids in high school it is all about name recognition and Nike still has the big stars. I think the gap is closing and Adidas has outperformed Nike over the last five years in the market.

But regardless of all the above, Adidas has been good to Kansas and Kansas has been good for Adidas. I hope the relationship continues.

It was bad enough that KU tried to say in the press release that all of its athletic programs have had "unprecedented success" in the past eight years. J-W, did you really have to repeat that ridiculous claim?

Wow. I can't say I'm one of the posters who thought KU should switch to Nike, but I wasn't against it, either. I know one of the major selling points on the original deal with Adidas was that they would outfit all of the athletic teams, both men and women, which they appear to be continuing with this extension. I wonder if Nike was unwilling to make such a deal or if they were even considered. I would like to think it was explored but Adidas provided the better deal. All things considered, I think this deal keeps KU on the leading edge when it comes to outfitting all its athletes and maximizing revenues.

When I walk into a store and see sweet nike gear for both Mizzou and Kstate it drives me crazy!!! Adidas fan apparel is nothing compared to what nike has to offer. I don't mind the uniforms the players wear as long as they're KU traditional....

Nike

Under armor

Adidas

Nike is much more appealing to recruits and fans! I ran a survey at school and it was a landslide for nike and under armor. Adidas wasn't anywhere close.....

Just remember, troll, your titles in football and basketball were co-championships. You had to share the football title with Oklahoma and the basketball title with Kansas - a team that beat you thrice, including a victory in the Big 12 Tournament championship.

Yes, because Kansas has had such a hard time getting elite players to play basketball wearing Adidas stuff. Dope.

Good recruits don't give two craps about who provides the uniforms. Idiot recruits that are all about themselves do. If they want to go to a Nike school then KU is better off without them.

And the standard Nike basketball uniforms suck. The standard Adidas jerseys are much nicer than those by Nike. liek everyone else, I hope we never see those ridiculous camo uni's ever again, but I am perfectly fine with this. The money is great for the sports programs.

I was with a pro agent Monday night he said it is not a swoosh or trident that athletes care about. it is another sign...... he said in college athletes it's about getting to the next level, winning, and championships. I think we are fine...just fine. Fans well Nike is sure flashier but I would want rings not cool hats...just saying.

Shoes aside for a minute, why does Nike insist on those "sweat-stain tatooed" bball jerseys? Those things are awful, and I have not changed position on that. Hopefully they come up with something new. When the game starts, the Nike teams already look like their jerseys are soaked, particularly in the back. It was then that i always was glad our unies had a clean look, at least from the tipoff. So, back to the shoes, I still think the adizero line is pretty fresh.

Folks, I would be willing to bet that Nike did not come in and give ANYWHERE close to the deal Adidas offered. At best, I bet Nike offered to give non football/basketball 50% off their non uniform stuff, like shoes, etc. That costs money from an athletic department that has struggled financially and needs to save where it can before Big 12 TV money kicks in. Adidas stepped up and took cost off our plate and gave us some money in pocket. That is a win.

EXACTLY. Whether we are in Nike gear or Adidas gear, good players still come to Lawrence to play. It makes NO DIFFERENCE to recruiting, no matter what some ding dongs think. There is ZERO actual evidence to back up any claim that it matters. Players go where they like the coach, the system and the facilities and where they think they can win and get prepped to go to the next level. If they are so stupid that they would choose a different school based on who makes their jersey then they are morons and thus, not as good a player to have in the first place.

What DOES make a difference is the amount of CASH that Adidas vs. Nike puts into the athletic department. Adidias pays more, which allows KU to travel more to talk to good recruits which leads to BETTER RECRUITS. More money = better players. Thus, the Adidas contract results in BETTER PLAYERS. It's really not complicated.

appeals more to recruits? Give me a break. What appeals to recruits is bill self being awesome, not some stupid logo that can barely be seen on the jersey. Just think...if Kansas signed with nike we probably would have gotten Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins.......oh wait.

KU could be sponsered by Russell Athletic and we would still get the same basketball recruits. What about football? What about baseball? What about all the other sports? Look at what Oregon has with Nike. That DOES bring them attention along with quality recruits whether you like it or not....Remember, there are other sports besides basketball!!!!!

Charlie Weis is doing pretty well so far without Nike. Haven’t heard any mention of a football (or baseball) player picking another school because we aren’t associated with them. Too your point, we would lose football recruits to Texas, Notre Dame and Alabama whether we signed with Nike or Sketchers. So what are you saying?

You can’t use Oregon as an example because they are all but Nike headquarters. Oregon and Nike go hand in hand. NO other school will EVER benefit from a shoe company like they do. Pull your head out of Nike’s tail.

I like their designs better than adidas too, but your argument is flawed.

I wouldn't have a problem with Adidas if they had more to offer us the fans in the way of style and excitement. A lot of the Adidas stuff KU has is boring or lame in my opinion. I still find Nike KU stuff and buy it because it's just better. I'm sure that for the University this is the right move and in the overall scheme of it, that's what matters most. However, as a fan I was hoping for Nike or Under Armour.

Maybe it's because I'm a KU fan, but I honestly like the looks of Adidas uniforms better than Nike. I do like Nike shoes better, but really don't like the way the uniforms fit at Nike schools. In any case, people make WAY too big of a deal out of this. Adidas is simply willing to supply all of our non-revenue sports with gear for free and Nike isn't.

KU's uniforms are classic and Adidas is responsible for that look. I would hate to see the abomination that Nike would throw together for the team. Like their sponsorship, I'd imagine they would be second rate.

I 100% completely agree. When you looked at Thomas Robinson, his jersey perfectly fit him and made him look ever bigger and stronger than he was. Adidas jersey's are more snug and make the players look like elite athletes. Nike's jerseys are too loose and baggy and make the players look like sloppy kids.

Chuck Taylor had an interesting life. Check out "Chuck Taylor, All Star: The True Story of the Man behind the Most Famous Athletic Shoe in History" if you have some downtime. He also invented the stitchless basketball.

They didn't "tie" us in basketball... we beat them three (3) times...two (2) blowouts...it's called "head-to-head" competition in most of the "free world"...not quite sure how Bruce Weber refers to same.

KU was! But that is just for seating as I'm sure you know but don't want to admit. Kstate won't look back and remember that they were swept by us. All they will remember is winning the conference. We will definitely remember the sweep though!

Nice to see our university uses their heads. Nike is way overrated. The only reason anybody wears their junk is that a guy named Jordan wore it. Otherwise, whatever. I like the cameo uniforms. They are fun, perhaps not for every day wear by a blue blood program but everyone needs a sense of humor, not a sense of being just like everyone else.

LJW - next time you run an article concerning what brand of shirts, shoes and jocks we are wearing, PLEASE do it during football or basketball season. It's a terrible thing to have nearly 70 comments of people arguing over swooshes or stripes.

How bout the basketball team sign with Jordan and let the rest of the athletic department go Adidas.... Wishful thinking. I'm 32, so I'm a Nike guy all the way, and there's just something about the Swoosh and the Jumpman logo, that looks so much sleeker than the clunky looking Adidas logo. Either way, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. It hasn't slowed Billy down, and that's all that matters.

Back when I played a lot of tennis I had a favorite pair of Adidas shoes. They lasted five years and I played tennis all the time. I am pretty old-school about uniforms and like the uniforms to pretty much stay the same with some historical elements. I just want to say Thank You Adidas but could you get a better logo?

I agree, I loved the vintage '88 throwbacks, and wish they would go back to that for the regular season, but I know the trajan font wouldn't allow it. I am a bit old-school also about that font. I like everything else about the unis, fit, design, etc, but am still enduring the font. Don't hate it, but just don't totally love it either. Btw, if you put some pop (i mean big hitters on D) in those vintage powder blue football jerseys, that would be sweet also, visa-vie the shot of the old Jbird team thundering downfield in that Ernie Davis movie ...

Any recruit whose decision will come down to the brand of athletic apparel used by the program is a recruit I want no part of here at KU. Talk about having misplaced priorities.

To be clear, I'm not talking about recruits who maybe prefer one brand over the other. That is only natural--we all have our preferences when it comes to the brands of stuff we use. I'm talking about recruits for whom Adidas is a dealbreaker for coming to Kansas.